Khary Penebaker describes himself in his X profile as a “Speaker. Advocate. Father. I build things and fight for what matters. Gun violence prevention is personal. Sneakerhead. Round Earther.”
Good to know.
He also ran as a Democrat — very unsuccessfully against a well-established incumbent — for a congressional seat in Wisconsin back in 2016.
Now, after a string of spectacular defeats for the cause of civilian disarmament in America, he seems to have decided that the best strategy is to go back to gun control default settings first principles, trying to sell whoever will listen to him on just a few basic “common sense” ideas that will obviously save lives and of course everyone can get behind that. Because we all just want to be safe. Right?
What guys like Penebaker seem to forget is that this is 2026. Some of us out here live in states where the “common sense” types have been in full control for years. Decades even. That means we know that what he’s selling is a steaming load of bullshit.
California, for instance, has (and this is just off the top of my head):
1. Bans on most common handguns
2. Bans on common rifles unless they have stupid compliance “features” (and now they want to ban those too)
3. Concealed carry permit application fees as high as $2,000 in total expense…and that’s aside from the significant time investment involved including a police interview, a two-day training course, Livescan fingerprinting, gathering personal references, and sometimes even a psych exam in some counties
4. An 11% tax on sales of guns and ammo
5. A 10-day waiting period to buy a gun, even if you already own other guns
6. Bans on carry in many types of public places, even if you went through all the trouble to get an expensive, time-consuming carry permit
There are tons more restrictions, hurdles, and roadblocks the books. Those are just a few examples.
Maybe those on the gun control side, people like Penebaker, would be a lot more successful selling this stuff in 2026 if it were actually true that all they want is a few things like background checks, safe storage, and red flag laws. Maybe.
Byut that isn’t true. It never was. We’re not stupid. We know what’s down that road. We’ve seen what blue states have done and are still doing, even now. Time to re-think your strategy, Khary.
Kostas Moros is Director of Legal Research and Education for the Second Amendment Foundation.
This anti-gun ‘common sense’ is just a retelling of one of the biggest lies ever told ‘I promise I’ll pull out.’
They don’t stop, their ‘common sense’ is a false promise just like ‘I promise I’ll pull out.’
These people would not recognize “common sense” if it slapped them!
🤣
I wonder if the “common sense” folks would consider replacing “guns” with “religious expression” or “speech” in their proposals and have the same convictions.
Yes. Yes they would.
All of those ideas would “touch me”. Leave me and my gun alone, please.
Along those lines. Ammo background checks deny eligible people regularly.
And the history shows that evil people are enabled to seize political power and then kill their ‘enemies’ by the millions with government guns.
A sensible gun controller would first disarm the government.
Not going to hold my breath…
“Common sense” = Total gun/ammo ban.
After all, who NEEDS a gun? To the mind of the gun-grabbers, there is NO reason to have a gun. So, the ultimate “common sense” restriction is to ban them all.
No one NEEDS a gun except them, THE ELITISTS. Typical. Good for thee but not for me.
Typical lying Democrat.
The things that are demanded as “common-sense” gun control laws are largely already in effect, and have not stopped gun-related crime.
Gun-free zones? Schools are already gun-free zones, by federal law. Gun-free zones have a disproportionate number of gun crimes committed in them, as would-be criminals find them to have safer working conditions, such as the Aurora CO shooter, who drove past theaters that did not have “Gun Free Zone” signs posted, to get to one that did.
Banning “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines”? Been done, at the federal level, for 10 years. A federal analysis said it had had no measurable effect, and criminals never ran out of magazines, many of which were found to have been stamped “Law Enforcement Only”. The entity that killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech in 2007 (the biggest mass school shooting in the U.S.) committed his killings with a pair of handguns and a backpack full of magazines, none with a capacity of more than 15 cartridges.
Universal background checks? The Sandy Hook killer killed his mother to take her guns. 16 states, including NY, IL, and CA, and DC, containing about 42% of the U.S. population, already require background checks on all gun sales, including private sales. How’s that working out for CA, DC, IL, or NY?
Sure, sure ,sure. Uh, how about G.F.Y.
We’re the police. We only want to talk. Open your door, please.
The gun-grabber crowd constantly seeking to put new restrictions on purchasing, possessing & owning firearms is the same crowd that opposes the SAVE act. Am I the only one who sees this blatant hypocrisy?
for as long as i have been a gun owner, the only ones that i’ve ever seen doing any “compromising” are the legal gun owners. no more “compromising”. this clown and everyone that thinks like him can “stuff” it.